Object of Visual Culture: Michelangelo’s Pieta Essay Example

to look for the best marble in order to sculpt a work commissioned for the French cardinal Jean de Billheres. That can be attributed to the artistry of Michelangelo, to his dedication to his craft which he has been honing since his earlier years. It can also be attributed to the fact that the work was commissioned and, thus, funding for the materials was never a problem.

With the suitable marble in hand, Michelangelo was then able to sculpt the fine details of the Pieta which includes but is not limited to the fine drapery of Mary as it folds into curves and figures just below the body of Christ, and the marks of the crucifixion in the Christ’s body. It is a painstaking process to create the folds in the drapery and the entirety of a sculpture that was almost six feet high. Quite interestingly, it can also be noted that the sculpture as a whole resembles that of a pyramid sculpture with the top vertex coinciding with the head of Mary.

The sculpture widens through the drapery of Mary until reaching the base of the sculpture which, all in all, shows the depth of the ingeniousness of Michelangelo at an age before his thirties (Ziegler, p. 32). The Pieta is only one of the many sculptures etched on marble during the time of Michelangelo, apart from the fact that Michelangelo himself used marble in almost all of his sculpted works. This is because the Renaissance movement draws its attention back to the ancient times, specifically gaining much influence from Greek and Roman history.

Much of the sculptures made during the

Greek and Roman civilizations hundreds of years ago were sculpted out of marble which appears to have influenced Renaissance sculptors such as Michelangelo to use marble as a sign of loyalty to the olden ways. Apart from that, marble is more durable and is able to withstand time unlike wood and, thus, marble sculptures would fare better than wooden carvings. Given the fact the Pieta was a commissioned work for the French cardinal, the intended function of the sculpture was to serve as the statue for the cardinal’s funeral monument which, only later on, was moved to St. Peter’s Basilica.

The cultural worth of the sculpture, however, resides on the fact that it is “high art”, one that is a sculpture portraying religious devotion first and foremost. The religious value of the Pieta is easily observed while its social value can be seen on the fact that it was a commissioned work like many others during Michelangelo’s time which is considered to be a luxury instead of a typical commodity available to almost everyone in the Renaissance society. More importantly, the intention of Michelangelo for creating the Pieta is not one which is purely based for commercial purposes or for the satisfaction of his client.

Well above that, Michelangelo went deeper by using his commissioned work as a means to elaborately depict the religious fiber that gives his sculpture more value than what is intended. The chastity of Mary and her youthfulness amidst the emotional distress brought by the death of Christ which Michelangelo sculpted brings home the point that his marble work was, in a sense, not only another piece of sculpted

marble but one which engages the observers to strongly relate to the image and be beholden by it.

In fact, Michelangelo told the biographer Ascanio Condivi that “chaste women remain far fresher” than women who are not chaste as reference to the reactions on the seemingly youthfulness of Mary in the Pieta (Lavin, p. 814). The beauty of the Pieta lies in two contexts: the sculpture itself and the core theme that it carries with it. Not only was Michelangelo able to display his incomparable artistry; he was also able to contribute to the Renaissance movement during his time, proof of which is the Pieta which, to this day, remains a notable sculpture.